Summary.

A measurement-while-drilling (MWD) directional survey tool and a set of

magnetic single-shot instruments used while drilling a particular, highly deviated well
were removed from the field and put in a controlled laboratory environment. Tests were
conducted to compare directional-survey azimuth readings obtained with the single-
shots against azimuth readings taken with the MWD system. We found both measuring
systems were generally accurate and repeatable; but we observed differences in azimuth
readings that sometimes exceeded l degree under even ideal test conditions. The MWD
tool was more repeatable and, on average, somewhat more accurate.

Introduction

Oil company personnel and directional drillers are growing more accustomed to using
mud-pulse telemetry MWD tools for directional surveying in lieu of magnetic single-
shots (which had dominated the directional measurement market since 1934).
Frequently, a directional driller will run a single-shot on top of the MWD tool to obtain
a crosscheck. But MWD systems and single-shot devices do not always produce
identical azimuth readings downhole, and this leads to questions about azimuth
differences. (Usually, discrepancies in inclination-angle readings are quite small or
nonexistent.)

An opportunity to examine differences between MWD and single-shot survey readings

arose when Aminoil USA questioned some azimuth-angle discrepancies observed
during drilling. Both the oil company and Teleco Oilfield Services Inc., the MWD
company, decided that ideally the single-shot instruments and the MWD system in
question should be compared under the best possible conditions to eliminate extraneous
causes of discrepancies. One such factor is magnetic interference caused by the
drillstring. When a single-shot is run on top of an MWD system, the distance from each
of the compasses (in the case of the MWD system, its "compass" is really a
magnetometer) to the nearest magnetic metal in the drillstring is different. In some
circumstances, the unequal distances can cause differences in azimuth readings between
the two systems. Other factors that exist in the field include (1) alignment of the survey
instrument within its drill collar, (2) alignment of the drill collar in the borehole, (3)
whether the specific nonmagnetic drill collars in use have any magnetic hot spots that
are located where they could affect azimuth readings, and (4) how precisely one can
read the single-shot film. We did not want to test laboratory-specimen equipment but
rather to test the specific hardware used in drilling the well that triggered the study.
Therefore the MWD system and the single-shot instruments used to drill the well were
set aside specifically for this study. Neither the MWD system nor the single-shot
devices received any special tune-up or other special preparation before the tests.

Tool Environment

We conducted this test in a laboratory environment created specifically for testing

magnetic survey instrumentation. We wanted to be sure any observed differences were
attributable strictly to the survey tools rather than our test procedures or equipment.
procedures or equipment. Nonmagnetic Environment. Our tests were performed in
Teleco's sensor calibration building in Meriden, CT, a structure designed and built to be
free of magnetic anomalies. When this building was constructed, magnetic field surveys
were made before the site was selected, several times during construction, and again
after construction to ensure that the building remained free of any magnetic field
problems. The building has wooden beams instead of steel beams, concrete without
steel reinforcement, aluminum nails instead of iron, plastic conduit, etc. Similar
buildings are used for directional sensor calibration at our field maintenance facilities.

Aligmment of Test Fixture. The test fixture must be accurately aligned relative to
magnetic north. A Model DIM-100TM inclination and declination magnetometer is
used for this purpose. The DIM-100 is a precision instrument of the same type used by
the U.S. Dept. of the Interior Geomagnetic Survey Team.